In the field of automatic teller machines such as those found at banks, deposits are often made using a standard envelope. The envelope can contain a single check for deposit, multiple checks for deposit, deposit slips, cash currency, letters to the bank and a wide variety of printed and other matter. When a deposit envelope is inserted into an ATM, the ATM usually prints on the envelope a transaction number, the ATM's identification number, the receipt time and date, as well as account information. Afterwards, the envelope is directed to a bin where hundreds of transactions are stored. The envelopes are then subsequently bagged and brought to a processing station.
In traditional bulk mail processing, large quantities of envelopes can be processed using automated means, as exemplified in Stevens U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,518,121, 5,464,099, 5,460,273, Simjian U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,295,139, and 3,266,626. These automated means are capable of, among others, opening the envelopes, extracting their contents and then arranging the contents for further processing. However, due to the extremely wide variety of materials that can be placed in ATM deposit envelopes, the aforementioned automated means are not efficient. In addition, the aforementioned means are not well suited where it would be preferable to trace ATM envelope contents back to the ATM machine where it was deposited. This is because they do not include means for keeping an identification number or numbers with the contents of the envelopes as they are moved along the processing stream. Tracing ATM envelope contents would be extremely important in bank transactions that are monitored by the Federal and State government, which must meet certain standards. Therefore, ATM envelope processing has mostly been accomplished by hand and not by automated means, thereby increasing the cost associated with such processing.
What is desired therefore is an efficient automated method for processing ATM envelopes that can reduce labor expense and increase audit control.